Asia’s local authority – Aaron Woolner column

Locals banks in Asia are hoovering up business from international banks – particularly European ones – that have been forced to retrench after the global financial crisis

Asia’s bond markets have been a rare spot of good news in a financial world that has been in short supply of this valuable commodity. The first six months of 2012 saw a record-breaking US$455 billion-worth of paper issued, a 19% increase on the same period last year, according to figures from Dealogic.

But this burst of activity in the bond markets has been matched by a corresponding fall in syndicated loans – some optimistic market participants told Asia Risk that this see-saw of interest